Day 8: Pawpaw to Cumberland

An amazing day in so many ways. Nobody fell in the mud, but plenty of close calls. The rain didn't last, and moved on very quickly. We had a lunch stop at the Schoolhouse Kitchen (ok, that wasn't amazing food, but, we didn't have PB&J). The Airbnb in Cumberland is a supercool house with kids toys. And most of all, Eryn had the best day ever. Something clicked, and she committed to finishing strong. She's encouraging Bryan along. She understands the game plan, even if she's not the biggest fan of some of the decisions at the moment.
We towed the kids after lunch to ensure we didn't get caught in the thunderstorm, and that really helped them get through the cake-batter mud. I towed Bryan and Mike towed Eryn. While Bryan and I came up with "99 turtles sitting on a log/99 turtles on a log/one went in/for a nice swim/98 turtles sitting on a log", Eryn sang baby shark about 5 times.
We worked out a nice system of "telephone" yelling back directions of avoiding the worst mud- going left, right, through, etc. I'd tell Bryan, who told Mike, who told Eryn, who told mom.
And then we reached Cumberland. And finished the C&O. And the views of town were pretty spectacular.
At the end of the 30 mile day, it felt pretty quick.
Highlights:
- the playground in Oldtown was pretty cool.
- getting a lot better about riding in mud.
- kids inventing new games every day- instead of the alphabet game, they use colors.
- the repaired tow bungee are still working well, and they're quite popular with the other riders.
- the airbnb!
Challenges:
 - told the kids no ice cream with lunch because we'd get it at the end, then decided they should have ice cream after dinner because it was already 5:30 when we were done with the bike shop, found a closer Mexican place, and after dinner, ice cream would have been a mile walk round trip. So, kids get double ice cream today.
- the mud could have been worse, but it was a challenge for sure.
- ugh, mosquitoes.
Recommendations:
- so glad I got the kids some sport shirts in quick dry fabric. I bought Bryan 3 neon orange shirts; dressing him in the same color every day helps. Eryn  has 2 neon pink, and one blue shirts.